Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros discuss all the action from the Champions League before welcoming Bradley Wright-Phillips to talk about the MLS playoffs, having Ian Wright as a father, and his infamous raps.
Fenerbahce 1-1 Manchester United: Europa League – live
Former United manager José Mourinho was sent to the stands during a topsy-turvy game that ended fairly with honours even
1 min: There is some proper bedlam going on at the Şükrü Saracoğlu. What a noise! Good luck thinking.
The hosts get the ball rolling. It’s exactly one year to the day since United’s last win in European competition, that 1-0 Champions League victory over Copenhagen at Old Trafford.
Continue reading...Europa League roundup: Rangers rout FCSB, Roma get up and running
- Rangers win 4-0 at Ibrox; Roma beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0
- Lazio go top of table; Ajax beat Qarabag 3-0
Philippe Clement insists Rangers’ desire and hunger in their convincing 4-0 Europa League win over FCSB at Ibrox was fuelled by being “sick of losing”. The manager came under enormous pressure after the 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday left the club six points off the top of the Scottish Premiership and the previous European game at Ibrox ended in a 4-1 win for Lyon.
There was an early reprieve when the Romanian side – formerly known as Steaua Bucharest – had the ball in the net only for a foul to be called. But Tom Lawrence opened the scoring in the 10th minute and the winger Vaclav Cerny fired in a double, one either side of half-time, before the second-half substitute Hamza Igamane scored his first goal for the club to wrap the game up.
Continue reading...Tottenham 1-0 AZ: Europa League – as it happened
Richarlison scored the only goal of the game as Tottenham earned a deserved third win of the competition
6 mins: Werner whips the ball towards the back post from the left. Moore makes a clever run but he does not make sufficient contact and the ball flashes wide.
Maddison chases a ball over the top … he almost gets there but he is beaten by the pace on the pass and the goalkeeper collects.
Continue reading...Lionel Messi’s Miami compensation is more than entire payroll of 22 MLS teams
- Argentinian was paid $12m in base salary
- Inter Miami had highest payroll in league
Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi earned more than the entire payrolls of 22 other Major League Soccer teams, and Olivier Giroud has $3,675,000 in annualized total compensation under the contract he signed to join Los Angeles FC in July.
The Major League Soccer Players Association released its salary update on Thursday and Messi’s $12m base salary and $20.4m in total compensation from Inter Miami remained the same as in the initial listing in May.
Continue reading...‘Say it to his face’: Luton call out racist abuse of Elijah Adebayo
- Striker was sent racist comment on social media
- Abuse took place during Wednesday’s loss to Sunderland
Luton have reported a racist comment sent to forward Elijah Adebayo on social media during Wednesday night’s Championship match against Sunderland.
The Hatters player had been subjected to racist abuse online last season while playing in the Premier League, which at the time left Adebayo “tired” and contemplating not reporting the matter over his disillusionment.
Continue reading...Geoff Capes obituary
Britain’s greatest shot putter who twice won the World’s Strongest Man competition
Standing close to 6ft 6in and weighing more than 26st in his athletic prime, Geoff Capes was a mighty figure who commanded international respect as a record-breaking shot putter, and later achieved even greater renown as a sporting personality through appearances in televised strongman competitions. Twice he won the accolade of being World’s Strongest Man, as well as achieving serial successes in Highland Games events.
Although Capes, who has died aged 75, never fulfilled his ambition of winning an Olympic medal, despite competing in three Games, with a best finish of fifth in 1980, he had an illustrious career, winning a Commonwealth gold medal in 1974 and 1978, and twice claiming the European indoor title, in 1974 and 1976. He would represent his country on a record 67 occasions between 1969 and his retirement from athletics 11 years later, when he chose to concentrate on paid competition. He achieved a lifetime best shot put distance of 21.68m in his final competition, in 1980, for a national record that still stands.
Continue reading...Championship roundup: Sunderland move clear at top and Boro sink Blades
- Régis Le Bris’ team win 2-1 at Kenilworth Road
- Burnley scrape 1-1 draw with Hull as Sheffield United lose
Sunderland moved three points clear at the top of the Championship with a 2-1 win at Luton.
Carlton Morris’s first-half strike was controversially ruled out for offside and the home side were left to rue other missed chances when the visitors took the lead early in the second half.
Continue reading...Super League expansion to 14 teams nears as Wakefield replace Broncos
- Grading system means nine clubs are safe from relegation
- Expansion talks may start ‘sooner than expected’
Super League expanding to 14 teams as early as 2026 appears to be looming after the publication of IMG’s gradings on Wednesday led to Wakefield being readmitted into the competition for 2025 in place of London Broncos, who have been demoted to the Championship.
Rugby league clubs agreed last year to replace conventional promotion and relegation with a gradings system that measured clubs in a variety of on- and off-field metrics. The 12 clubs with the highest ranking would be admitted to Super League, with the gradings reviewed every year.
Continue reading...Championship roundup: Leeds beat Watford to join Sunderland at summit
- Bachmann errors help Farke’s side to 2-1 win
- Cardiff beat Portsmouth to climb out of bottom three
Leeds moved up to second in the Championship as two goalkeeping blunders by Watford’s Daniel Bachmann helped them to a 2-1 win at Elland Road. The Austria goalkeeper was at fault for both Leeds’ goals as they raced into a 2-0 lead inside the opening seven minutes through Largie Ramazani and Brenden Aaronson.
Kwadwo Baah pulled one back for Watford, who were much improved in the second half, but Leeds held on for back-to-back home wins in the space of five days. Daniel Farke’s side extended their unbeaten league run to six matches and have now lost one of their first 11, while Watford slipped to a fifth straight league defeat on the road.
Continue reading...Wallabies name $5m man Suaalii in 34-man squad for Grand Slam tour
Code-hopper Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is being thrust straight into the big-time after being named in the 34-man Wallabies squad for spring tour of the UK fresh out the NRL having not played a game of rugby since he was a schoolboy star.
Arsenal’s red card issues continue, Frankfurt CEO Axel Hellmann stops in & should Messi win MLS MVP?
Christian and Alexis react to another Arsenal red card. Then, the guys chat with Eintracht Frankfurt CEO Axel Hellmann about how American fans can engage with German clubs. Later, Christian and Alexis debate whether Lionel Messi is deserving of MLS MVP.
‘Lethal’ Retegui is leading reshaped Atalanta … and Serie A’s scoring charts | Nicky Bandini
A surprise signing from Genoa, the striker has immediately integrated in Bergamo thanks to his manager’s brilliance
Mateo Retegui is not afraid to make a snap decision. When Roberto Mancini phoned to ask if he would consider representing the Italian national team last March, the striker “didn’t have to think about it. I just said yes right away”. Born and raised in Argentina, he had never lived in Italy nor did he speak the language, yet within days he marked his international debut with a goal against England in Naples.
A choice that shifted his whole life’s trajectory. Twenty-three years old and playing for Tigre on loan from Boca Juniors, Retegui was hardly at the forefront of most European scouts’ minds. He scored 23 goals across all competitions in 2022, yet domestically there were doubts as to his ceiling. His parent club had declined their option to bring him back at the end of the year, while the Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni was indifferent to Retegui declaring for Italy.
Continue reading...Hull’s Walter reveals referee apologised for role in Sunderland winner
- Hull player Mehlem appeared to be obstructed by referee
- Wilson Isidor’s strike sends Black Cats back to top
Hull City’s head coach, Tim Walter, revealed that the referee Robert Madley apologised to him for his inadvertent role in Sunderland’s winner that helped the Black Cats to return to the top of the Championship table.
Wilson Isidor’s third goal in four matches, in which the on-loan Zenit St Petersburg striker ran half the length of the field and lifted the ball over Ivor Pandur, sealed a 1-0 win for Sunderland at MKM Stadium.
Continue reading...Chris Hoy: a remarkable, determined human being unchanged by success | William Fotheringham
The courage with which he faces his diagnosis is typical of a man who engages with life in his own way, with perspective
At a certain age, joked Sir Chris Hoy in October 2011, you don’t even buy green bananas. The throwaway remark was intended to underline the complexities and unpredictabilities of being a “senior” athlete – Hoy was then 35, seemingly blessed with eternal youth – but it seems grimly apposite in the light of the Scot’s announcement that he has terminal cancer and may have only between two and four years to live.
There has been universal warmth and admiration for the way Hoy has dealt with his diagnosis, revealed publicly in an interview with the Sunday Times. An upcoming memoir, All That Matters, will go into further detail, along with relating the multiple sclerosis diagnosis of Hoy’s wife, Sarra. The unflinching courage shown by Hoy, the acknowledgment of the tremendous difficulty of processing and communicating what has happened to their family, underlines that here is a remarkable human being, who engages with life – and death – in his own way, with a humbling degree of perspective.
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